1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to a control apparatus, and more particularly to a control apparatus for an optical disk drive.
2. Description of the Related Art
The advance of notebook computers leads to their popularity. Besides having the function of executing application programs, most of the notebook computers are equipped with multimedia functions, which greatly add their value of utilization. An optical disk drive, such as CD-ROM and DVD-ROM, is indispensable for multimedia applications. The notebook computers can be used to utilize multimedia player software to play audio music CDs in an operating system such as Windows. The current advance enables user to operate the optical disk drive while the computer system is power-off. Operating the optical disk drive during the power-off state is commonly called as “Audio DJ function”, which is fairly user friendly.
Conventionally, the operation of the optical disk drive is controlled by an optical disk drive control chip installed in the notebook computer. Referring to FIG. 1, a block diagram illustrating a conventional control method for the optical disk drive is shown. Herein and in most conventional cases, ATAPI (Advanced Technology Attachment Packet Interface) interface is applied. The optical disk drive 15 is controlled according to the control signal Ctrl received by an optical disk drive control chip 11 and transmitted via the ATAPI. There are a variety of control signals, such as play/pause, stop, FF, REW, etc. ATAPI, which is specially designed for the optical disk drive 15, is integrated with the optical disk drive control chip 11 and thus became one of the indispensable costs. Therefore, it is against the market trend of cost reduction.
The current notebook computer with the function of Audio DJ is usually configured with several control buttons on its housing. The control buttons, such as play/pause, stop, FF, REW, or eject, control the operation of the optical disk drive. The control buttons on the housing of the notebook computer provide an easy and convenient way for users to enjoy the multimedia function. However, by all means the configuration of the buttons creates and increases higher production cost. In addition, the pleasant appearance design of the notebook computer is spoiled due to the additional buttons. Hence, it is a pity to have inevitable shortcomings despite no doubt the method provides a handy way for users to execute the optical disk drive.